Whilst we were just adding the info and video link about ‘Twinnsie’ to ‘About Us’  https://serbiananimalsvoice.com/about-us/   today, when we have been sent the following message from the same team member !

As you can read below, it is great to see that at least some authorities have faith in the belief that sterilisation in street animals is the way forward to reducing their numbers – what a pity that the Serbian government is so very short sighted !

Here is the message sent to us today from Twinnsie:

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Dear Mark,

Hi there, it is your sponsor dog Twinnsie here. I may have told you before how nervous I am and how I can never go on walks? Well, something amazing has happened! There was this long-term volunteer here at Soi Dog recently that really gained my trust and helped me feel much more confident. Before I knew it she was taking me on daily walks around the lake! It is so exciting to be able to get out and about, even though I still get nervous to walk past other people and I continue to shy away from many things whilst on the lead. If you find it hard to believe that it is actually me in the picture, it is because I have also had a haircut! Of course, I am still very shy and nervous and very few volunteers are able to approach me. They say I am still a long way away from being a well socialised pet, but I am in the best of places to learn trust. I am so grateful to you for being my sponsor and for your continued confidence in me. It means a lot!

That is enough from me for now. Let me instead tell you some of the stuff that is going on at the shelter.

So far, 2015 has already been a life changing year for countless animals here. The Adoptions Team has been working very hard to not only find forever homes for an increasing number of dogs rescued from the dog meat trade, but also for many of the longer term residents at our shelter here in Phuket. No less than 17 sponsor dogs have been adopted this year! Many of these have already completed their required quarantine periods and left for their forever homes somewhere in the world. We are glad to hear reports that all the ones that have already left, are happily settling into their new loving homes where care is being put into meeting all their individual personalities and needs. This is a testimony to the efforts of the adoptions team to match each dog with the right adopter!

Some of the adopted sponsor dogs will still require ongoing medical care for chronic conditions and some will need a lot of tender loving care to really blossom and overcome their shyness. Some others are quite advanced in years already, but we are so glad to hear that even so, these dogs have been given a chance to live out their lives in loving families of their own!

So it is great to know that the adoptions are going well and that many people decide to take a Soi dog into their lives. It is also great that our new dog hospital here at the shelter is coming along according to plan and that we can look forward to having really high standard veterinary facilities within the near future. There is still some fundraising going on for equipment and such, but the building is almost there. They say they hope to be able to open the doors to the patients within October.

In addition, you may be glad to know that Soi Dog has now started running mobile sterilization clinics outside of Phuket, in the province of Phang Nga. In order to humanely reduce the street dog populations and reduce their suffering from diseases, you need to target one area at a time until at least 70-80% of the animals there have been sterilised and vaccinated. With over 80,000 animals neutered on Phuket, this target has now been achieved. Phuket has also been declared the first rabies free province in Thailand, thanks to the Soi Dog vaccination program.

While the mobile clinic is now helping dogs outside the island, on Phuket extra effort is being put into sterilising more of the stray cat population too. Our shelter vets are now dedicating an increasing number of days to sterilising more cats on the island.

There are also plans to initiate large scale sterilisation and vaccination programs in Bangkok (which is home to almost one million stray dogs) before the end of this year.

So you can hear that everyone has been very busy as usual!

Thank you so much for being a part of all this and thank you for caring particularly about me! I am very lucky to have you sponsoring me.

Woofs and licks,
Twinnsie

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Twinnsie before the haircut:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29FaTYldzHU&feature=youtu.be  

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